Louisa Keyser

Louisa Keyser

Louisa Keyser (c. 1829-1925) also known as Dat So La Lee was a Washoe Native American basket maker. She was born in Nevada as Dabuda, which means Young Willow, but later changed her name. She learned to weave baskets at a young age but did not weave baskets exclusively until she was about 45 years old.

She is famous for her degikup baskets. A degikup basket is a larger basket that has a small, circular base which then coils up and outward to a maximum circumference, which then decreases until the opening at the top is the same diameter as the base. The design on the basket covered most of the surface. She created these baskets for about 30 years for Cohn’s Emporium. Her work can be found at the Philbrook Museum of Art.